Marcellus formation

Amino Acids. Traces of amino acids were found in the Devonian Newton Hamilton and Marcellus Formations in a previous study (7). In the present work (Table V) small quantities of amino acids were isolated from the Marcellus shale. In both the earlier work and the present study an amino acid that chromatographed as arginine was found. Other amino acids in the Marcellus black shale are histidine( ), methionine, alanine, tyrosine, valine, leucine or isoleucine, and two unknowns, possibly including aminobutyric acid of nonprotein origin in the Newton Hamilton Formation histidine( ). Ammonia was also present in both the Marcellus and the Newton Hamilton. 

Marcellus Formation, Middle Devonian, 2 miles northeast of Mt. Union, Mt. Union Quadrangle. 

Dr. Swain Yes, the amino acids listed as unknown from the Marcellus Formation are not among the common protein amino acids. It is suggested they may be aminobutyric acids, but this has not been verified. 

In 1981, the Ontario Geological Survey began a program to assess the resource potential of the Whitby Formation and the other black shales of Ontario. Prior to this study, information on Ontario s black shales has been very sparse due to poor or non-existent exposure and limited subsurface information. Existing data suggested three units were sufficiently organic-rich to warrant further study—the Ordovician Whitby and the Devonian Kettle Point and Marcellus Formation (JL). ... 

The Middle Devonian Marcellus Formation consists of black bituminous shale and minor argillaceous limestone lying conformably on the Dundee Formation limestones. Its depositional setting resembles that of the Whitby Formation and the Marcellus... 

Only a few TOC analyses of the Marcellus Formation are available. Generally, the Marcellus contains less than 5% TOC, but a few scattered samples contain 9-11% TOC. 

The Middle Devonian Marcellus Formation is much thinner and less extensive where it subcrops on the north shore of Lake Erie, although thicknesses of 50 m have been inferred beneath the lake. TOC values up to 11% and Fischer Assay oil yields of 64 1/t have been found. The organic matter is slightly more mature than that in the Kettle Point, and so some bitumen is present. The kerogen is dominantly of marine origin. 

Although the Whitby Formation was a viable oil shale in 1860, it does not appear to constitute a major, world-scale oil shale resource today. However, additional research has been undertaken to identify the richest and thickest shales which may be suitable for smaller-scale production as was practiced near Collingwood around 1860. The studies of the Marcellus Formation are very preliminary, but they point towards a resource of similarly limited value. 

Offshore neritic formations in the Paleozoic rock sequence probably include, on faunal and lithologic grounds, the Lower Ordovician Beekmantown dolomites, Middle Ordovician limestones, and Devonian Marcellus and Burket black shales (Table III). The first two are characterized by 0.1-0.4% organic carbons, very low organic nitrogen, and about 20 p.p.m. hydrocarbons but no carbohydrate residues. The Devonian offshore neritic black shales by contrast... 

In the Whitby Formation, the available FA oil yields (59 samples) are less than 60 litres/tonne (14 U.S. gallons/ton). This oil has a specific gravity in the range 0.893 to 0.942. Twenty FA determinations on Kettle Point samples revealed oil yields up to 72 1/t (17 gal/ton) with specific gravity in the range 0.896 to 0.956. Few FA analyses of Marcellus shales are available the highest oil yield to date is 64 1/t (15.4 gal/ton). 

Table I summarizes the indicated maturation levels of organic matter from the Kettle Point, Marcellus and Whitby Formations and equivalents in various areas. Using Figure 4, these may be related to thermal maturation. Only a few samples have been ex-...

None of the indicators alone provide a definitive indication of thermal maturation, but, when considered together, they provide a reasonably consistent picture. It seems that the Billings equivalent of the Whitby Formation in the Ottawa area is mature to overmature, while the Whitby Formation along its subcrop is marginally mature to mature. The Marcellus is marginally mature and the Kettle Point is immature to perhaps marginally mature. 

Figure 7. The relative proportions of amorphous (am), exinous (ex), and vitrinous plus fusinous (vit. + fus.) kerogen macerals. Key to formations , Kettle Point a, Marcellus , Manitoulin, Whitby A, Collingwood, Whitby and o, Toronto, Whitby.

Natural gas is produced Ifom a variety of shale formations in the U.S., including the Barnett and Marcellus shales in Texas and the U.S. Northeast, respectively. As these resources have been developed, there has been an increasing public interest in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water consumption associated with their extraction and use. 

Until recently, many oil and gas companies considered natural gas locked in tight, impermeable shale uneconomical to produce. Advanced drilling and reservoir stimulation methods have dramatically increased gas production from unconventional shales. The Barnett Shale formation in Texas has experienced the most rapid development. The Marcellus Shale formation of the Appalachian basin, in the northeastern United States, potentially represents the largest unconventional gas resource in the United States. Other shale formations, such as the Haynesville Shale, straddling Texas and Louisiana, have also attracted interest, as have some formations in Canada. The resource potential of these shales has significantly increased the natural gas reserve estimates in the United States (Andrews, 2009). 

As shown earlier in Figure 4.2 in Chapter 4, shale gas is present across much of the lower 48 states. Figure 4.2 shows the approximate locations of current producing gas shales and prospective shales. To date, the most active of these shales are the Barnett Shale, Haynesville/Bossier Shale, Antrim Shale, Fayetteville Shale, Marcellus Shale, and New Albany Shale. This chapter does not discuss all of the unconventional gas shales rather, discussion here is limited to these most active shale gas plays. Each of these shale gas plays or basins is different, and each has a unique set of exploration criteria and operational challenges. Because of these differences, the development of shale gas resources in each of these areas faces potentially unique challenges. The Antrim and New Albany Shales, for example, are shallower shales that produce significant volumes of formation water, unlike most of the other gas shales. Development of the Fayetteville Shale is occurring in rural areas of north-central Arkansas, while development of the Barnett Shale is focused in the area of Forth Worth, Texas, in an urban and suburban environment. 

Up to 1500 Tcf. The average well spacing in the Marcellus Shale is 40 to 160 acres per well. The data in Table 5.5 show technically recoverable resources for the formation to be 262 Tcf, although much like the Haynesville Shale the potential estimates for this play are frequently being revised upward due to its early stage of development. 

Marcellus Directory. 2010. Houston Hart Energy Publishing. Covers the oil and gas activity in the Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Field Formation, which extends through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia, part of the Devonian Black Shale Field. Provides the same coverage as all Hart directories. More information at http //www.hartenergy.com/ directories/marcellus.php (accessed July 23, 2010). 

Danger G, Bossa J-B, de Marcellus P, Borget F, Duvemay F, Theule P, Chiavassa T, D Hendecourt L (2011) Experimental investigation of nitrile formation from VUV photochemistry of interstellar ices analogs acetonitrile and amino acetonitrile. Astrrai Astrophys... 

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